1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to drawer apparatuses installed in motor vehicles, and more particularly to the drawer apparatus of a type that is constructed compact in size and equipped with a biasing spring for biasing a drawer toward an open position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, various types of drawer apparatus have been proposed and put into practical use particularly in the field of wheeled motor vehicles.
In order to clarify the present invention, two known drawer apparatuses will be briefly described in the following, which are those disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (tokkai) 2003-285681 and Japanese Utility Model Publication (jikkouhei) 07-12182 respectively.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (tokkai) 2003-285681, there is shown a drawer apparatus for use in a motor vehicle. The drawer apparatus of this publication generally comprises a base structure having an axially extending holding portion, a drawer axially movable in the holding portion between an open position and a storage position, a coil spring compressed between a bottom wall of the holding portion and a rear wall of the drawer to bias the drawer toward the open position and a lock mechanism that is able to lock the drawer at the open and storage positions.
The coil spring used in this drawer apparatus is arranged coaxial with a direction in which the drawer moves. Thus, when the drawer is moved to the storage position against the force of the coil spring, the coil spring is axially compressed and finally takes a cylindrical shape having its continuously connected circular coil elements closely pressed to one another. Upon this, the coil spring shows a certain axial length, and thus, in the storage position of the drawer, there is inevitably produced a certain wasteful space between the bottom wall of the holding portion and the rear wall of the drawer. Due to such wasteful space, the drawer in the storage position is not effectively received in the holding portion of the base structure, which causes the drawer apparatus to fail to have a compact construction.
In Japanese Utility Model Publication (jikkouhei) 07-12182, there is shown a drawer apparatus for use in a motor vehicle. The drawer apparatus of this publication generally comprises an outer case, a drawer axially movable in the outer case between an open position and a storage position, and a coil spring is compressed between a bottom wall of the outer case and a rear wall of the drawer thereby to bias the drawer toward the open position.
The coil spring used in this drawer apparatus has one arm pivotally connected to the bottom wall of the outer case and another arm pivotally connected to the rear wall of the drawer. That is, a main part (viz., the part including multiple coil elements) of the coil spring is so arranged that an axis of the main part is perpendicular to a direction in which the drawer moves. Thus, when the drawer is moved to the storage position against the force of the coil spring, the two arms of the coil spring are gradually pressed toward each other and finally stopped when the main part of the coil spring is tightly sandwiched between the bottom wall of the outer case and the rear wall of the drawer. That is, due to presence of such main part of the coil spring, the drawer in the storage position is not effectively received in the outer case, which also causes the drawer apparatus to fail to have a compact construction.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a drawer apparatus for a motor vehicle, which is free of the above-mentioned drawbacks.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, s there is provided a drawer apparatus which comprises a base member (2) having a base wall (3a) and two side walls (3b) that extend in the same direction from opposed ends of the base wall (3a); a drawer (4); a guide structure (10) by which the drawer (4) is guided to move in the base member (2) between an open position and a storage position; and a coil spring (6, 26) that is compressed between the base wall (3a) of the base member (2) and a rear wall (5a) of the drawer (4) to bias the drawer (4) toward the open position, wherein the coil spring (6, 26) includes continuous circular elements of which diameters gradually change is in accordance with a positional change in an axial direction.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drawer apparatus which comprises a base member (2) having a base wall (3a) and two side walls (3b) that extend in the same direction from opposed ends of the base wall (3a); a drawer (4) having a rear wall (5a); a guide structure (10) by which the drawer (4) is guided to move in the base member (2) between an open position and a storage position; and a coil spring (6, 26) compressed between the base wall (3a) of the base member (2) and the rear wall (5a) of the drawer (4) to bias the drawer (4) toward the open position, wherein the coil spring (6, 26) includes continuous circular elements of which diameter gradually change in accordance with a positional change in an axial direction; and the coil spring (6, 26) is of a type that can take a flat circular shape to be neatly received in a space between the base wall (3a) of the base ember (2) and the rear wall (5a) of the drawer (4) when compressed in an axial direction.